Emotional Support Animal - Landlord Forum thread 348779

Emotional Support Animal by Anonymous (Georgia) on October 14, 2016 @17:36

I have a prospective tenant, older lady who is deaf in one ear and suffers moderate hearing loss in the other ear (she wears one hearing aid). She has an emotional support animal which helps her due to her hearing loss and the animal weighs about 10 pounds.

Do I need to ask her for a letter or is this considered a pet.

Thank you for your input.

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Re: Emotional Support Animal by Garry on October 14, 2016 @19:52	[ Reply ]

You do not "need" to ask her for a letter from a licensed doctor, phycologist, phyciatrist, etc. But you "can" if you want to. I assume you either don't allow pets, or charge an additional fee or deposit for them. If a person does present you with a letter saying she needs the ESA, then you have to allow her to have it, without charging extra for it. To be honest, if she has no criminal record, and her credit rating is good, and she has the income to afford to rent your place, you should DEFINITELY rent to her. She could easily become one of the best tenants you have ever had. (probably very long-term, too.)

Re: Emotional Support Animal by Anonymous on October 14, 2016 @20:26	[ Reply ]

This is like a seeing eye dog. It is not considered a pet, but an animal there to be of assistance to her. You can ask her for a letter stating this is an assistance animal. I think G is assuming you have an additional rental amount for a tenant having an animal. Many rental properties do charge more for an animal living in the unit.

Re: Emotional Support Animal by Anonymous on October 14, 2016 @20:40	[ Reply ]

What kind of animal is it?

Re: Emotional Support Animal

Re: Emotional Support Animal by BOB on October 15, 2016 @02:44	[ Reply ]

We have been getting this alot. It is not protected under the ADA guidlines.

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Re: Emotional Support Animal by MrDan on October 23, 2016 @23:23	[ Reply ]

This is not an emotional support animals, but falls under the definition of an alert or signal animal within the FHA definition of assistance animals. A landlord cannot ask about the applicants disability when that disability is readily noticeable. Further inquiry is a violation of Fair Housing guidelines. You have an applicant with a readily recognizable disability and has a signal/alert animal. No additional information is needed or should be required. "It can also be a bird or reptile, or a fish, a miniature horse, a goat, or pot-bellied pig" is not accurate. It's never about the animal, but whether the applicant/tenant is disabled and that the particular animal in question has a nexus in alleviating the disability.